


It's okay

by NovemberWings



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: (And she gets one), (Could be slash if you squint), All the siblings are there, But it's not written for that, Child Abuse, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Other, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Sibling Love, That awful scene with the cell, Vanya Hargreeves Needs A Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-18 12:36:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18699730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NovemberWings/pseuds/NovemberWings
Summary: When Luther threw Vanya in that cell Klaus remembered something from when they were young, and he couldn't stand and watch Vanya's pain any longer. Not when he could do something about it. It's not okay.





	It's okay

Klaus will always remember the day when their father had gotten frustrated at them and had turned to Vanya who stood behind him silently and shoved her to the ground. She had done nothing wrong. It wasn’t even her that he was angry at but he turned on her like a monster. He had grabbed her shoulders and pushed with all his strength and she fell. She fell hard. Even as she hit the floor she didn’t let out anything louder than a whimper. He stood over her tiny little body, shivering on the floor, and screamed at her. Klaus couldn’t even remember what he had said, not only because the bastard screamed at them so much it became pointless because nobody listened, but mainly because he was trying to see Vanya’s face which she had tucked firmly into her chest and covered her head with her arms.

When he had finished shouting he stepped away from her before kicking her in the side. She let out a shout of pain before whimpering to herself quietly. Reginald started to leave the room, leaving the six of them lined up before their crying sister, and paused in the door way. He turned, and Klaus could still hear his voice echoing in his skull; “No one talks to her or touches her! Leave her to wallow!” His voice had boomed through the room even after he had stepped out of sight.

He remembers the hesitation as they all stood still in their place, looking at their sister on the floor, before Luther first stepped out of line and walked around her and left the room. Diego was next. The other four stood for a while, but Vanya never moved. The room was silent except for her small cries and heavy breathing, but Reginald’s demand played loudly in their skulls. Klaus remembers tearing his eyes away from Vanya to look at the others and they were all communicating in that silent way and silently they all agreed to leave.

They parted like the ocean around and rock and left Vanya alone to cry and heal. Alone.

And while that was a traumatic moment they all shared, none of them could understand what Klaus felt later that night. He remembered clearly, as he walked down the stairs at 11.30 the third step from the bottom creaked, making his heart beat loudly in his chest. He didn’t want Dad to figure out that he was out of his room after curfew but he needed a drink. He tiptoed into the kitchen and almost screamed with shock but there was Vanya lying on the table. 

She was lying in her bra and skirt with a cold pack on her side where Dad had kicked her. Her arms were covered in bruises that he didn’t know existed. She stared absently at the ceiling, looking as if she were dreaming. He thought to leave, as not to disturb her but she must have spotted him out of the corner of her eye. She jumped at seeing him and Klaus could still remember the look of absolute panicked terror in her sleepy eyes. She drew in a shocked breath and Klaus needlessly raised his finger to his lips, telling her t stay quiet, one of the only messages that she had received in her life. He quietly clicked the door shut behind him. She lay back down on the table and reapplied the press to her side.

He slowly made his way over to where she lay in the half light and closer he could see how bad the bruises really were.  
“V, I’m so sorry.” He said as his eyes scanned over her torso littered with bruises, too many shaped like fingers. And he would never forget how she looked him in the eyes and smiled sadly before saying with sincerity;  
“It’s okay.”

************************************

That had stayed with Klaus. Deeply.  
She had said it was okay when there wasn’t anything less okay in the world. She hadn’t specified what she meant was okay but Klaus knew that she meant everything was okay. That Dad had clearly been hurting her more than any of them realised, that it was okay that he had pushed and kicked her in front of them for no reason. That it was okay that they all left her alone on the floor. She thought it was okay with a smile on her face.

Everything about that night came rushing back to Klaus as he watched Vanya hit against the glass of the prison Luther had thrown her into. She screamed and cried and the eyes were the same that he had desperately tried to see as she buried her head into her sternum. 

Klaus had never really cared for anything but the easy route. If drinking copious amounts of alcohol made the next few minutes easier he would drink. If drugs would help him get a few extra minutes of a deep unconscious sleep without nightmares he would take drugs. But he knew now that he needed to help Vanya… and it wouldn’t be the easy route.

His sister needed to understand that what happened to her was not okay. The way their dad had treated them was not okay. The way her siblings abandoned her was not okay. She only thought it was okay because that was all she had ever known. If someone never knows freedom they believe oppression is normal. That it’s acceptable. The only way. That oppression is okay. No longer. No more. This was stopping and it was stopping today. 

Before Klaus could think he walked over to Diego who, like the man he is, was squaring up to fight Luther. But they all knew how it would end, it would end the way it always ended. Nothing would happen, a few punches would be thrown, maybe, before they both got bored. But no this time. Oh no!

He strode over to Diego and pulled a knife out of the strap on his leg.  
“Klaus!” Diego rounded on his but he didn’t care.  
“You open that fucking door now, you big ape or I swear to all things good I’m going to fuck you up.” He screamed feeling his vocal cords start to tear but he didn’t care. For a moment everyone stood in a shocked silence, and when Klaus fully comprehended what he had done he was equally as shocked. But he knew it was the right thing.  
“That door stay closed.” Luther ground out. Klaus saw red. Before he could think he stabbed Luther in the bicep, shoving the knife in all the way until the handle was the only thing that wasn’t embedded in Luther’s arm.  
“I said open the fucking door.” He shouted as he pulled the knife out of Luther’s arm, holding the weapon that was dripping in blood.

Luther raised his hand to his stab would and pulled his hand away seeing blood covering his palm.  
“Klaus are you crazy!” Diego shouted at him.  
“Maybe!” Klaus responded with a hysterical laugh. “But right now I couldn’t care less. I want my sister out of that cage now!” He gestured towards the prison with the knife. “She is my sister and if none of you love her I do! I’m not leaving her again. I’m not abandoning her again. And just because this fucking prick here,” he gestured to Luther, “lacks the ability to be his own he had to imitate out abusive dad. We all knew!” He let out another hysterical laugh and he threw his hands in the air, looking legitimately insane, “We all knew he abused her. But we did nothing. We let the most vulnerable of us all get beaten by a man twice her size. I’m not letting a man four times her size do the same thing. Open. The. Door.” He turned to Luther and glared him down as he held his would with blood dripping threw his fingers.

Without a word Luther turned and spun the door lock, unceremoniously pulling the door open, making Vanya fall the ground, loud sobs filled the room interrupted with ‘thank you’s with a too grateful voice.

Klaus rushed forward, dropping the knife on the floor, before holding his sobbing sister in his arms as she clung desperately to him, sobbing into his neck. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Luther leave and the others slowly left until he and Vanya were the only ones left. He crying continued for a long time and he just hugged and rocked her. He was there for her and she knew it. It was more than he had ever done for her before and he was ashamed of that.

He brushed her hair out of her face when he could and shushed her reminding her to breath.

After a while her sobs calmed and she slowly pulled away from him with a reluctant look on her face.  
“Thank you. So much.” Her voice, raw from crying and emotion, broke heavily.  
“You don’t need to say thank you. It’s what I should do. You’ve been alone too long Vanya.” He said, sadness radiating from his voice, almost mirroring the sad acceptance that he saw in her eyes all those years ago.  
“It’s okay.” She smiled sadly and Klaus wanted to tear the world in half.  
“No.” He shook his head, “no it’s not. It wasn’t right. I’m here for you Vanya, I’m sorry it’s taken me so long, I hope one day you can truly forgive me.”  
“I will.” She said sincerely as she tried to wipe the still flowing tears from her cheeks.  
“Shall we go to your place?” He asked her, thinking her home, with a hot drink and a crappy movie would be better than lying in this underground dungeon of her childhood abuse. She nodded and he stood offering a hand down to her which she gratefully accepted. He pulled her up from the floor and put an arm under hers to help her along, with what he assumed were extremely shaky legs.

And he knew from this point forward, whether it be the hard route or the easy route, he would always be there to support his sister.

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya guys!!  
> Another Umbrella Academy fic. Honestly, I love writing Klaus and Vanya fics so much, I feel like they would have had a really interesting relationship and it's super fun to explore. I hope it's super fun to read too.
> 
> Also I think we forget that Klaus was in a war. Like an actual. I feel like Klaus can fight better than we all think, I mean he would have had to, unfortunately, spill some blood so I don't think this is too out of character for him.
> 
> As usual please tell me what you think! It really makes a difference and keeps me writing stuff. (Also if anyone is interesting I'm currently writing a part 2 to Lots of Little Acts of Love. It is coming I promise, just taking a while.) So hopefully I'll see you guys over on that fic later.  
> Thanks!!


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